Rainy Day
by renrenren3
Summary: A typical life in the day of Arthur and Merlin: hunting monsters, insulting each other, bonding over a campfire.


**Notes:** This fic was beta'd by the lovely kathkin (from LiveJournal) who fixed my stumbling prose and persuaded me to ditch the present tense for the greater good. The remaining mistakes are my own.

Also, this is a one-shot. Meaning it's completed and I have no plans to write a sequel (though of course I'll be writing more Merlin stories). So it's kind of pointless to set story alerts – as with the rest of my stories. Just saying, eh?

-x-

It was supposed to be just another of Arthur's pointless, irritating hunting trips. Just another afternoon wasted tramping around in woods and getting their boots muddy again, all for the sake of Arthur catching a few scrawny rabbits and laughing at him for his inability to hold a crossbow.

Of course, it could never be that simple.

-x-

Uther could boast all he wanted, claiming that his laws had rid the kingdom of all magical beasts and brought peace and safety, but Merlin knew better.

He and Arthur had been wandering for several hours without seeing a single animal, let alone rabbits, and Arthur was already in a foul temper. He was turning his head from side to side, alternately motioning for Merlin to hurry up and pointing his crossbow at bushes without pulling the trigger.

Merlin trudged along behind the prince, trying not to get the bag or the crossbow or the sword tangled in the branches. He would never understand why Arthur needed so much stuff to go hunting.

He had a sneaking suspicion that the prat was doing it on purpose to annoy him.

"Maybe we should head back," Merlin finally offered, glancing up at the sky. It was getting dark, and his arms were tired.

But Arthur had that look in his eyes. The stubborn one. The one that said _I'm going to do this if it's the last thing I do, on my honor as a prince_.

Merlin wished he wasn't so damn serious about everything all the time.

"Not until we found what we're looking for," Arthur said without even turning around.

Merlin groaned. "All _I_'m looking for right now is dinner and my bed," he complained. "Come on, there's no quarry in this part of the woods."

Arthur turned around, pointing an accusatory finger at his servant. "That's because you scare all animals away," he exclaimed. "A troll could walk with more grace than you!"

"That's not true," Merlin started to say, but before he could go on he stumbled and dropped Arthur's sword. He could swear he _heard_ Arthur roll his eyes as he bent down to pick it up.

And that was when the monster attacked.

-x-

Arthur had always delighted in telling Merlin that he was absolutely rubbish with a sword.

Merlin thought it was a bit unfair. Arthur was one of the best swordsmen in the kingdom. (He would have said _the best_ to the prince's face, of course, but Merlin had a good memory and still remembered Lancelot knocking Arthur's feet from under him and pinning him to the ground.) Arthur trained every day with the elite and had done so since he was old enough to hold a weapon.

It was ridiculous to pretend that a servant could live up to those standards.

Of course, Merlin conceded that it probably would have been better if he'd managed to at least draw his sword before being knocked off his feet by a swipe of the beast's tail.

Beside him, Arthur was shouting frantically as he loaded another bolt into the crossbow. The first one had completely missed the target.

Merlin had never seen anything like this - it looked like a lizard but it was bigger than a carthorse, and its vicious barbed tail was swinging dangerously back and forth.

"My sword, Merlin, my sword!" Arthur cried, and Merlin tore his gaze away to retrieve the weapon from where it fell a few feet away.

Judging from Arthur's curses, his crossbow wasn't having much of an effect.

"Merlin!" he called again, his tone even more urgent. He turned his head, just a second, but that second was enough for the creature. It swiped its tail in a large arc, hitting Arthur squarely on the back of his legs.

Arthur was caught off balance and fell on his back with a strangled sound. The ground was covered with a slippery mixture of mud and rotten leaves, and Arthur was still trying to regain his footing as the beast came charging.

Then suddenly Merlin was there, sword in one hand, the other raised protectively in front of Arthur. He screamed something that might have been a spell or might have been a prayer or might have been complete nonsense, thrusting wildly at the beast with the sword.

"Go away!" Merlin yelled. The blade impacted, piercing the monster's shoulder and drawing blood. It yelled, a high-pitched wail that brought Merlin to his knees, and for a moment looked like it was about to charge him and Arthur both.

Then the beast turned around and ran for it, limping but still menacing until it was out of sight and the only traces of its passage were the muddy footprints all around and Arthur lying groaning in a puddle.

Merlin was just considering their luck (and the likely presence of piles of dirty laundry in his near future) when Arthur sat up groggily.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" he hissed at Merlin.

As far as thank-yous went, Merlin had heard better.

-x-

Over the next hour Merlin became increasingly convinced that after all he should have let the blasted creature eat Arthur, destiny be damned.

He even said so to the prince. (Minus the destiny part, of course, because Gaius would have had his head for letting that slip.)

"I saved your royal arse," Merlin grumbled, watching Arthur scramble over a fallen tree trunk. "What happened to being grateful?"

Arthur snorted. "This wouldn't have happened if I had my sword," he remarked angrily, then turned the other way to hide a grimace.

He was trying to pretend that he hadn't twisted his ankle in the fall. Merlin thought he wasn't being very good at it.

"This wouldn't have happened if you'd carried your own sword in the first place," Merlin said, then rolled his eyes and hurried to lend the prince his shoulder before he toppled over.

Arthur didn't say anything but leaned his weight against Merlin.

And Merlin thought that maybe they would be able to make it back to Camelot by nightfall, but then it started raining.

-x-

Arthur kept complaining about how the branches were too green and too damp and how it was impossible to light a fire like that, and Merlin wished that the prat would just turn the other way so he could use magic already.

They were taking shelter under a couple of large trees by a lake. Arthur was, of course, firmly ensconced in the warmest spot that he could find, sitting on a nice dry tree root.

Merlin was left to find a portion of ground without too much mud. It was uncomfortable, and his back was still stinging from the monster's blow, and his clothes were caked in disgusting brown sludge.

He cursed and sneezed and kicked their would-be campfire for the best part of an hour, trying fruitlessly to get it going. Eventually he gave up and muttered a few words under his breath.

This was dangerous, with Arthur so close that their knees were almost touching, but the magic words mingled with the noise of the rain and went unheard.

It was nice to finally have a fire going. Merlin smirked at the expression of disbelief on Arthur's face.

"See?" he said with a triumphant grin. "I told you I'm not completely useless."

"Maybe," Arthur conceded. For a moment it looked as if he would return the grin, but then he remembered that he was angry with Merlin and looked down sharply, massaging his wounded leg. "Though this doesn't make you any less of an idiot."

Merlin was more than fed up by his attitude.

"Will you just tell me _why_ you're so angry?" he finally snapped, angrily poking the fire.

"Why did you save me?" Arthur replied. His question was so unexpected that Merlin's head shot up and he stared at Arthur as if he had just grown a second head.

"Why did I... that's ridiculous!" Merlin exclaimed as soon as he regained control of his brain. "What was I supposed to do, let you die?"

Arthur pulled a face. "There's a difference between saving someone and risking your life for them," he said, his tone maddening.

"Oh, I know," Merlin replied hotly. As if he hadn't been risking his life for Arthur on a daily base for the past two years. "I know only too well."

"Yes!" Arthur exclaimed. "I know you do!"

Merlin tore his gaze away from Arthur's face and stared at the fire. Silence stretched on for longer than would have been comfortable.

Then Arthur sighed, and when he spoke again his voice was no longer a shout. "I know you've saved my life one time too many," he said. He sounded tired.

It was not like Arthur to be this straightforward, Merlin thought.

"Yes, you have a knack for putting yourself in mortal peril," he joked, but Arthur didn't return the grin and his expression got if possible even darker.

"I'm serious, Merlin! I'm used to danger," Arthur said, staring straight at Merlin. "But I don't want those around me to be in danger as well."

Merlin didn't look away, but he didn't know what to say either. A remark on the dangers of hunting rabbits would only add to the awkwardness of the situation.

"Why did you save me?" Arthur asked again. "Was it because I'm the prince? Did you think it was your duty...?"

"No!" Merlin said, and he didn't realize that he had been shouting until Arthur stopped mid-sentence, startled by the sudden outburst. But finally there was a question that Merlin could answer, and he wasn't going to miss the opportunity.

Arthur, Merlin thought, really was an idiot.

"That's what you thought?" Merlin asked, incredulous. "That I saved your life just because you're the prince? I saved your life because you're my _friend_!"

And it was true that in those frantic few moments in which both of their lives were at stake Merlin never gave any consideration to rank or duty or destiny.

He didn't even think about what he was doing. His body just moved of its own accord to shield Arthur, this time just as all the other times before.

He had saved Arthur's life because that was what he wanted to do, regardless of what prophecies or dragons or destiny might have to say about it. Merlin didn't even want to consider the idea of living in a world without Arthur.

It was all so simple and straightforward in Merlin's head, and yet it was almost impossible to put into words. Merlin fell silent.

Arthur was staring at him, looking outraged, but that was just his standard expression whenever he had to deal with Merlin's insubordinate outbursts.

He didn't say anything, but his expression softened and at least now he didn't look as if he was ready to have Merlin thrown in the dungeons for a month.

It seemed as if he wanted to say something, but in the end Arthur just shook his head and patted the root he was sitting on.

Merlin looked at him blankly.

The gesture was repeated, only adding to Merlin's confusion. Then Arthur rolled his eyes and hisseed "Come on!"

So Merlin shuffled over to sit next to him. There wasn't much space and their sides were pressed together, so close that Merlin could feel the heat from Arthur's body.

The rain went on for some time and the silence stretched on too, but this time Merlin thought it was perfectly comfortable.


End file.
